Mixtures of surfactants are prepared and sold for a wide variety of industrial and domestic applications. They are often provided in liquid or solid form. It is desirable that the mixtures of surfactants contain as high a proportion of active material as possible. A detergent gel composition offers unique advantages over the use of liquid or solid concentrates. Unless the liquid concentrate is combined with viscosity modifiers, cosolvents, or other viscosity thinners, a gel generally can have a greater concentration of active ingredients compared to a liquid concentrate. Moreover, a gel is generally more active and dissolves at a more uniform rate compared to a solid concentrate.
A gel offers several advantages when used with detergent dispensing or metering apparatus. Details on the advantages and usefulness of gels with dispensers are disclosed in the contemporaneous filed patent application entitled "Gel Dispensing Wash Apparatus," invented by Terry M. Crowell, assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/318,619 by the Patent and Trademark Office, and incorporated herein by reference.
A persistent problem associated with many detergent gel compositions is that the gel compositions tend to undergo syneresis, or phase separation. It is an object of this invention to provide high viscosity detergent gel compositions and a process for making the same that simultaneously strongly resist syneresis and provide the surfactancy, sudsing, and mildness attributes of an acceptable detergent useful in washing of tableware, kitchenware, and other hard surfaces, as well as dispensing and metering benefits referenced to above.